Columns

For yet another year the John T. Memorial Race was both entertaining and safe. I would like to congratulate the organizers (past and present)for continuing to improve the quality of the event and for a job well done. It must be noted that for the main race, a rider with an obvious handicap emerged the winner.

Initiation programs were designed so that all who become part of the club must pass the test. Those who opted out could not be part of the elite club. Neither could they be the leaders. That was one of the reasons why monarchies died out. Some sons came along who were too disorganized, good for nothing, and unable to make the sacrifices which good leadership demanded.

I was very concerned when a number of people called me on Sunday afternoon to complain about the closure of the Capt. Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport. I felt that in the midst of these challenges we can ill-afford to lose the little we have to the uncertainty of interrupted air transportation services. Obviously, I would never considerthat it was a situation that the Government would deliberately cause ---unless there was good reason.

The desire of the Speaker of the Anguilla House of Assembly to have the Leader of the Opposition escorted from the House shows her inability to control the House and her lack of knowledge of Parliamentary procedure. The Speaker should now consult with former Speakers, namely, Mr. David Carty, Mr. Roy Rogers and Mr. Franklin Connor. They can offer guidance.

Do you want to be healed? If you are sick, you might be saying – “What kind of question is that?”, “Who would not want to be healed?” Another question you just might be asking if you are not ill is – “Healed from what?” And that too is a very good question. However the question is well intentioned – Do you want to be healed?

In my article of June 11, 2011, entitled “To Budget or not to Budget” I commented that the Chief Minister & Minister of Finance has been looking in “the rear view mirror rather than focusing his attention on the approaching traffic and the bumpy road ahead”. I “chalked” that up to politics.

I must again thank the Honourable Minister for the Overseas Territories, Mr. Bellingham, for his letter of June 10th, 2011 in which he responded to a letter from the Leader of the Opposition, the Honourable Evans McNiel Rogers, regarding the Interim Stabilization Levy. In the final paragraph of that letter he said: “I hope that you will be pleased to hear that the British Government has offered technical assistance to the Government of Anguilla to follow up on the recommendations in the recent Ghandi/Wiggins report.”

Utero-vaginal prolapse, also known as vaginal prolapse, is one of the few remaining taboo disorders in medicine. Many women around the world, including Anguilla, suffer in silence for many years and are scared and embarrassed to discuss this topic with their gynaecologists.

It was not my intention to write an article this week since I was off-island on my main “writing night”. I was also aware that the Leader of the Opposition, the Honourable Evans McNiel Rogers, was delivering a major national address that will be carried in The Anguillian this week. I knew that finally readers and listeners would have factual evidence to discredit the Chief Minister’s continual efforts to mislead Anguillians about the Interim Stabilization Levy Act. Mr. Rogers presented the response he received from the Minister for the Overseas Territories that states clearly that the elected Government of Anguilla is “the competent authority” for the implementation of all revenue and taxation measures.

This week most employers were probably upset about the four-day weekend and the costs placed on their already strained budgets. On the other hand, employees may have been disappointed that they could not afford to celebrate the holidays in the lavish manner they were accustomed to over the past years. This four-day weekend for the Welches Community afforded them a day to recuperate after the hard effort they put into the Annual Fest.

Let the game begin! It is impossible for the Chief Minister to be so inept and so useless that the only thing he can do is to blame HMG, AUF and/or the Civil Service for whatever happens. Mr. Hughes has gone back to his “standard two days” and is playing Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. He seems to have no interest in the average man’s success or failure. He himself has money and (some) power; now he wants more power but the British Government stands in his way. Therefore, for his own aggrandizement, he wants us to join him and get rid of them.

Do you honour your father? This is probably the most ticklish question one could ever ask of many children or adults. The word father at times appears to be a curse word. Some people just cannot bring themselves to talk about or even identify with the man who is supposed to be their father. No wonder this time of year fails to get the recognition it truly deserves.

Last week we lost another one of our centenarians in the person of the late Mrs.ArinaMelvina Webster. At the celebration of her life at the Mount Fortune Seventh Day Adventist Church on Sunday, a distinction was made that at 104 years of age she was the oldest Anguillian living in Anguilla --- a distinction which highlighted the fact that there is another Anguillian centenarian in the person of Mrs. Elma “Mealy” Gumbs who will celebrate her 106th Birthday on June 29th, God willing. “Mealy” Gumbsnow lives in St Thomas with her daughter, Mrs. Edna Gumbs, and I am sure that the more senior among us will remember her late famous husband the “Prophet”, Mr. George “Judge” Gumbs. We thank God for the lives of all of our senior citizens. With them resides the “institutional memory” of ourAnguillian heritage, culture and traditions. Their lives have shaped our own. Hopefully, their families, friends and associates would have had the opportunity to avail themselves of information that can someday comprise our national treasure. May her soul rest in peace and may the other centenarians of our nation rally on with God’s grace and providence.

Every five years, under our constitutional arrangements, we exercise the opportunity to choose the people who we want to govern us at home and represent us abroad. This is a critical occasion in the life of a country because if you make a mistake and select the wrong people you may be stuck with them for five years. Five years is a long time in politics. Government is about politics and politics is about choices. We tend to judge a government by the choices it makes. That is why a government must govern. It cannot blame the mistakes of its predecessor for the failure, indecision and inactivity that shrouds its impotence to perform. This seems to be the hallmark of the ruling regime.

The 44th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution and Anguilla Day passed with a bang. It culminated with the “Around the Island Boat Race” which I had the privilege to enjoy, in living color, from the deck of my friend’s powerboat, on the beautiful waters around Anguilla’s breathtaking coastline, amidst what can best be described as a “Carnival at Sea”. At no point in the race was there any question who would be the winner. The “Real Deal” led the pack from start to finish. The race was therefore relegated to a “contest for second place” as De Tree, the Sonic, the Stinger and the Miss Anguilla “battled it out” for that position, ending up second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively. As a novice to the sport, I could not help but marvel at the strategies employed by the various captains many of whichseemed counter-intuitive. In fact, at one time I questioned the sanity of one of the captains whom seemed to be headed for Crocus Bay rather than Sandy Ground. Later I was amazed to see that same boat engaged in the battle for the finish.

Last week I was unable to write my column due to tight travel schedules and other commitments, but I am grateful to Mr. Ashton Bradley for “pinch hitting” in my space with his article: “The honeymoon is over!”In his usual direct style, Mr. Bradley spoke to the need to “hold the Government to account” and to ask specific questions about its campaign promises and its capacity to fulfill them. I was particularly moved by his comment: “Today in Anguilla there is real cause for all of us to ponder our destiny.

How is your relationship with your in-laws? Is it a healthy one? Well, if you are planning on sticking with your partner for the long haul, then forming a healthy relationship with your in-laws is crucial to its success.

There is no doubt that there have been giant steps forward in the economic life of the people of Anguilla --- but can we at the same time say the same thing about our socio-political life? Are we as a whole more egalitarian, sophisticated, classy, understanding and more capable of analyzing the issues around us? The issues important and necessary for us to tackle in order to move to higher ground! Or are we content with the same old nonsense we hear and propagate?

The Environmental Health Unit of the Department of Health Protection has found a unique way of controlling some of the garbage which originates from some of the sporting functions on the island. On Tuesday, this week, it donated a number of collection bins to the Sports Department for that purpose.

The more I learn about the Anguilla situation the more I realize how urgent the need is for major Constitutional Reform in Anguilla - reform that will ensure the practice of genuine democracy on the island. In an earlier article I made the point that the immediate constitutional goal for Anguilla should not be full independence, but rather full internal self-government or ‘Statehood’ while remaining in a specially defined relationship with Britain quite different from that of colonialism. The British have been using the terms “partners” and “partnership” to talk about what this new relationship should be, but it has not yet been defined in any specific way. Anguilla and the other so-called Overseas Territories (O.T.) now need to pursue a definition of this relationship with Britain that will ensure that it is truly a partnership that is distinctively affirming, advancing and helpful, and not simply the same old exploitative colonialism dressed in a new garment and called by a different name.